Mubarak - al-Assad to meet in Alexandria

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad will discuss during their meeting to be held shortly in Alexandria the possibility of convening a pan-Arab summit that would be attended by Iraq during autumn, as well as Middle East peace prospects in light of the talks President Mubarak held in Washington and al-Assad held in Moscow.

Egyptian diplomatic sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that there is an agreement to hold the Egyptian- Syrian summit and that there are two proposed dates for it. The first date is within days and the second is following the visit of Turkish President Suleiman Demirel to Egypt at the end of this month.

The sources indicated the importance of timing for the Mubarak - al-Assad meeting in coming following the talks that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak held with President Mubarak, with Jordan's King Abdullah Bin Hussein and with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.